Yoshi-P says it’s “about time” for more Final Fantasy Tactics, does not mention Vagrant Story

Final Fantasy 16 and Final Fantasy 14 boss Naoki Yoshida has told The Gamer that he reckons “It’s probably about time,” for a new Final Fantasy Tactics game.

The hint at some long term wish fulfillment came up during an interview with The Gamer’s Gabrielle Castania, in which Naoki ‘Yoshi-P’ Yoshida spoke about Final Fantasy 16’s upcoming The Rising Tide DLC, alongside DLC director Takeo Kujiraoka and localisation director Michael-Christoper Koji Fox.

When asked whether the team thought FF16 would work as a jumping off point for a new Tactics title, Yoshida replied:

“We have a lot of our staff who worked on previous games like Final Fantasy Tactics or Final Fantasy 12, so you’re going to have a lot of that [Tactics] feel because a lot of the same people are on the team…We’re very happy for you to suggest this because we’re all fans, but if we were going to make this, we wouldn’t want to do the same story that turns out to be a different story.”

“But the series does lend itself well to that kind of storytelling, and we love Tactics as well," he added later. “It’s probably about time that we do a new one.”

The last proper entry in the series, which made its debut in 1997, was 2007’s Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift for Nintendo DS. As for PC: zilch, zip, and nada, although we did get a ‘Reborn’ version of predecessor Tactics Ogre in 2022, which Katharine reviewed and enjoyed. Fans have wished loudly and repeatedly for even a basic port of Final Fantasy Tactics on Steam for years, but so far, nothing has materialised. We did get this neat Tactics/FF6 fan mash-up though.

Final Fantasy Tactics, like Final Fantasy XII and parts of Final Fantasy 14, is set in the world of Ivalice. Ivalice is a gritty, politically tense, medieval setting, similar to 16’s - hence, I imagine, The Gamer’s pertinent question. Do you know which other neglected Square PS1 game was also set in Ivalice? C’mon Yoshi-P. Do it for me. Do it for us. Give us a Vagrant Story remaster. It is time. FF fans just got Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. They’ve been eating good enough already. Vagrant Story fans? Emaciated.